What Would Jesus Buy?

I thought that in being a Senegal—an overwhelmingly Muslim country—I would be able to avoid Christmas season, only to encounter its uglier twin sister, Tabaski. Eid Ul-Adha or Tabaski as its known in Senegal takes place 70 days after the end of Ramadan. It commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son when God asked. For those of you who slept through that Sunday school lesson, God ends up being like “syke! Just kill a sheep instead.” So to honor the spirit of total devotion embodied in the act, Muslims worldwide are supposed to slaughter and eat a sheep every year. This year Tabaski is nearly coinciding with Christmas. I would tell you the exact date only nobody knows when it will be exactly since it all depends on the moon. Subsequently, it could be December 20, 21 or 22. We won’t know until right before. Regardless of the difference of premises, this amazing holiday that not only venerates absolute devotion and could highlight the links among the world’s three great monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, is instead just turned into another superficial excuse to fritter lots of money away in order to impress your neighbors and friends in a spending spree that just leaves everyone broke. Of course, those who can least afford to end up wasting the most money. I mean, what will people say if you aren’t spending like a maniac? Maybe the truth: that you are poor. The sad truth, how horrendous.

The only major difference I can see with how people treat both holidays is that here in Senegal instead of buying tons of random shit that can lift the several whole sectors of the economy people just focus on two things, buying a sheep and a new outfit. Yup, every family tries to buy its own sheep, and no, they are not cheap. From what I have been hearing they can range from $100 to $450 with some costing even more (In a country where the GDP per capita, even when adjusted for purchasing power parity is still less than $2000). As a result the city is overflowing with sheep, many coming from as far away as Mauritania and Mali since Dakar is the wealthiest city in the region. I am not a Muslim theologian but I am sure that spending that much money is probably against the spirit of the holiday. After all, many—probably the vast majority to be honest—of the most devout people of any religion are poor, dirt poor. And I doubt Allah really intended people to prove their devotion by making themselves broke every year to buy a sheep. Considering that Allah was talking to some 8^th century Arab nomads originally he probably just assumed that people had sheep lying around, and that no one was ever so far from one that they would have to buy one. But in modern capitalist Senegal, it means most people are hustling hard to afford that sheep. On top of the sheep, everyone has to go out and spend anywhere from $25 to $325 on a new boubou. But at least the large expense for the sheep has some foundation in the religion, why you would need a new outfit is just pure consumerism and vanity.

Although it’s not quite as omnipresent (I would say suffocating) as Christmas with the media attack of holiday ads, music, and movies, Tabaski clearly changes the pattern of life. Suddenly the cab ride that cost $1.50 two weeks ago, now runs more like $2.50. Gasoline prices I asked? Nope, Tabaski. The waxaale for several products is now more difficult. You get the feeling that everyone is ready for what’s likely to be the biggest production of the year. This to me just further disproves the myth of rationality, one of the axioms of neoclassical microeconomics. Even if the means of purchasing are rationalized (charge toubabs more for everything) the end is of complete folly. Neoclassical microeconomic theory will tell you that it doesn’t matter how people determine how much “utility” to attach to any given good or service, just that they maximize and rationalize and economize and blah blah rationality to achieve that utility. But it’s not important that so much of our economy depends on our willingness to spend foolishly and gorge ourselves once annually with some flimsy religious pretext? Where would the WORLD economy be without Americans splurging every December 25^th? And how many of the herders in West Africa wouldn’t even be in business if it weren’t for Tabaski?